Nodiadau Tachwedd 2001
/ November 2001 Notes
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CWMBRAN 23.11.01 A GOOD EVENING to
you all and a welcome to another Friday evening match. And a special welcome once again to our
friends from Cwmbran. I have got to
know both their very respected Chairman John Colley and Secretary Roy Langley
quite well and both frequently attend LoW meetings and make valuable
contributions to the debate. John’s contribution to the success of Cwmbran
since the League’s inception, and also Roy’s in latter years has indeed
incredible. Just looking at the
Club’s success rate since 1992 speaks for itself. Well,
what a week we have just had.
Firstly, qualifying for the FAW Premier Cup Quarter Final and then
successfully advancing to last 16 of the Welsh Cup, where European place is
in the offering, so the importance of this competition cannot be
over-emphasised. The draw for the Quarter Finals of the Premier Cup has not
yet been made, of course, due to the incompletion of the group stages but I
understand that the BBC will be televising live one live quarter final, so
we’re all keeping our fingers crossed here at Richmond Park. And of course, there’s been a lot of
discussion lately about media coverage of the LoW in particular, where
despite the BBC holding TV rights, coverage of our matches has been somewhat
restricted this year and, of course, the demise of the Gôl programme on S4C has been a bitter pill to swallow. So
completely different from the situation across Offa’s Dyke, where saturation
coverage of the higher echelons of the English game has placed itself in the
precarious position of over-exposure.
But has the TV bubble burst in England where clubs rely heavily on
television money to survive? I wonder
whether ITV’s decision to move The Premiership programme from 7.00pm on Saturdays back to a late
night spot to accommodate sparkling Cilla’s Blind Date programme is significant? Furthermore, as ITV Digital has shown so far this season,
broadcasting hours and hours of football does not guarantee large numbers of
viewers. So has the TV money
peaked? And if so, those football
clubs who have budgeted ahead for at least three years in respect of players’
wages might feel the pinch if the bottom falls out of the TV market. I’m only jealous, folks!
But if Welsh clubs could only have a small proportion of the amount,
for example, the PFA is striking for,
then wouldn’t it be marvellous for Welsh football? Incidentally, I think we can totally agree with the players’
stance here for more money for their Association as it will benefit those
players in future years who are not currently in the £50,000 + a week bracket. And there are many of those! FINALLY, A WARM
WELCOME to Tomi’s new signing this week.
Chris Miller lives in Swansea and has come from the Haverfordwest club
and at the Afan Lido game last Saturday I spoke to more than one football
manager watching the game who spoke highly of Chris as a striker. I can give no bigger compliment than
quote our Chairman who told me that one of Chris’s greatest admirers was the
late Ray Davies. Enough said! Enjoy tonight’s game! CWMBRAN
(Premier Cup) 13.11.01 A
WARM WELCOME once again to you all to this evening’s match and especially our
good friends from East Wales. By the
end of the month our two clubs will be fed up to the teeth of seeing each
other but I can tell you that the backroom staff at Cwmbran are a great
bunch! I
must say that I have found this year’s FAW Premier Cup competition to be most
intriguing. When the draw for the
groups stages was made at the beginning of the season, I did not visualise
then that the tables at this very late stage would look as they do
tonight. Going on last season’s
results, our rivals tonight together with the efficient Newport outfit, were
indeed hot favourites to qualify for the quarter finals. I must say however,
that Rhyl, who are holding a very respectable position in the LoW table, have
surprised us especially with their haul of four points from the two games
against our visitors tonight and one at Newport’s formidable fortress at the
Yspyty Stadium. These results emphasise how commendable have been our efforts
in this competition in gaining two victories over Rhyl who, without these two
defeats against us, would now have been riding high and dry. As it is, we
find ourselves in the enviable position of needing just one point, albeit an
elusive one, to qualify for the quarter finals. And the intrigue has continued in Group A where Caersws, who
languish in a perilous position in the LoW table, have already qualified against the high-flyers of their group. You
may recall that in my notes in the Newport programme I refer to a competition
for the best programme in the group stages. I don’t know how we will fare but
I can tell you that our joint Programme Editors came up trumps last season by
winning for the second year in succession the LoW Programme of the Year. Also,
we had second place in the Best Overall
Welsh Programme and I make a point of mentioning these facts as a tribute
to the two ‘unsung heroes’. In the well-respected Wirral programme
Competition, however, I’m afraid we must have done something to upset the
panellists as we came a poor third! IF
I CAN NOW draw your attention to a national football magazine known as When Saturday Comes. This publication
was launched some 15 years ago as a sort of fanzine but has now developed on
a more mature basis and has a wide and large circulation throughout the
United Kingdom. And why do I tell you
all this? Well, in the December 2001 issue, which is now in circulation, none
other than my son-in-law and now a Town Committee Member Paul Ashley-Jones
has written a contentious article about the media’s contribution to
televising Welsh football. With
tonight’s match very much BBC orientated I’m not going to look a gift horse
in the mouth, so I will make no comment other than tell you that the magazine
is available from W H Smiths at £1.50, and is well worth a read! Enjoy tonight’s game! OSWESTRY TOWN
03.11.01 MAY I BID YOU all a
warm welcome to Richmond Park for this afternoon’s game against our friends
from over the border. A welcome also
to Ray Davies’ son Barry, who is with us today. Some superb tributes to
Ray have been chronicled in a supplement to this programme, so I will not
dwell on recent events but suffice for me to refer to the gathering at Ray
Davies’ funeral this week - remarkable to say the least, which underlines the
huge esteem that so many people had for him.
And to see such famous players as Mel Nurse, Mel Charles and Alan
Curtis - to name but three - at the
funeral speaks for itself. But despite this difficult time,
we did in fact come up with two wins in the far reaches of North Wales It is not for me to encroach on Tomi’s
parameter as it is he who usually refers to team matters in his notes, but,
on this occasion, I would like to
refer to the excellent team spirit which I feel is now permeating throughout
the Club. It was only just a short
couple of weeks ago in the Caernarfon Clubhouse when a threadbare Town squad
collected the three points at the Oval against some worthy opponents. When
the players entered the Clubhouse after the game, the large contingent of our
supporters, partaking of after-match refreshments burst into spontaneous
applause, something which I have not experienced during all my association
with the Club. This team spirit is reflected on the field, both on the
performance of the players and in their disciplined approach. Unnecessary cautions due to dissent and
bad temper are not now prevalent which is reflected in good team
performances. I’m wondering whether this new found confidence and spirit
stems from the visit to Stockholm last June where players were able to train
together and live together? Our
playing record so far this season is similar to that of last year, so there
must be more to the acquisition of this team spirit than just winning
games. Changing the subject, I attended
a special meeting of LoW clubs at Caersws last week and I must refer to our
Chairman’s excellent presentation which he made to Clubs on behalf of the
Board of Directors. He outlined the Board’s case for achieving greater autonomy
in the running of the League and it was proposed that a Business Plan would
be prepared for the FAW so that a budget could be allocated to the League for
its use as it would see fit. An
example that could be put forward would be the appointment of a full-time
Commercial Manager, if the Board so desired, which would help to generate
funds and raise the profile of the League. It was indeed a worthy
presentation by Jeff which went down well with the clubs. FINALLY, IT WAS a good Premier
Cup result for us last week when Rhyl and Cwmbran drew. One point in our next game against Cwmbran
on 13th November would take us through into the Quarter Finals! |